Rape accused should not be fielded in elections: Mayawati

Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday said that her party agrees with the view that those accused of rape should not be fielded by political parties in elections.

"BSP agrees with the view 101 per cent that rape accused should not be fielded as candidates in the elections and not be given importance," Mayawati told newpersons.

The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also approved of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor`s suggestion that the revised anti-rape law be named after Delhi gang-rape victim.

"If the family of the victim has given its approval to the name being made public and law being named after the rape victim I have no objections to it... The Central government should convene an all-party meeting and take a decision in consensus with everyone," she said in response to a question.

She termed as unfortunate that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has remained silent over different rape incidents in the state while extending help to victims of cases of rape in other states.

BSP president said that though Delhi gang-rape incident has created awareness, there has not been much change in the attitude of governments.

"The Delhi case has awakened the people of the country, but the attitude of Central and the state governments has still not changed," she said, adding that if change had taken place then there would not have been other rape cases after the gang-rape of the 23-year-old paramedical student.

The central government should take an initiative and make arrangements for immediate hearing in rape cases, she said.

Mayawati said that it was unfortunate that those sitting on top positions were merely criticising and expressing sorrow over such incidents and "not taking any concrete step in this direction would also be a crime".

She suggested that family and society should initiate ways and means to impart good values besides advertisement and film industry should also be responsible regarding their content as an effort to check occurrence over such incidents.